The Dublin pubs at Christmas house the true heart of Dublin city especially at this time of the year in the lead up to the festive season. Reason as far as I can see it is that it is a welcome outlet for many to relax and catch up with friends and to celebrate the year gone by and to shoot the breeze with the ones we know and trust. This certainly sets the scene for an opportunistic photojournalist style photographer to document the atmosphere of this well practiced art of pub life in the capital. Where I find the most soul and energy is in the older Georgian and Victorian bars like the Long Hall on Georges Street and certainly the older and less changed pubs in Dublin tend to be the ones that present more opportunity to my all seeing lens. In any conditions of weather I feel at home wondering the streets of the centre of town and catching an impromptu moment of a moody scene outside a classic Dublin pub before dropping in and absorbing the atmosphere and smells of the establishment and taking more pictures of the finer details of the patrons within.
The Long Hall image bar scene above was taken in 2009 in celebration of 250 years since Arthur Guinness took the lease on Saint James Gate and the image was taken at 17:59 on that day in a toast to Arthur in appreciation for his contribution to the Irish way of life.
Dublin Pubs Collection can be found here https://patrickdonald.com/?s=pub&post_type=product
